Wrong room!

Risiko walked into the castle slowly, taking in the new sights. Stopping to admire the double staircase and the fish tank, he wheeled a large suitcase behind him, a duffel bag precariously stacked on top of it. He continued forwards, arbitrarily choosing the left side.
Looking around, Risiko saw a magnificent three stories of books. He stood his roller up by the circular staircase and started walking around. Looking both for people and at the books, he wandered near aimlessly (but keeping a close eye on his luggage).
At the nearest wall, he looked over some of the spines. Of the ones he could read, it was odd and wholly weird subjects, most of which Risiko had never read about. 'Treatise of the Artistic Measures upon Drawing a Most Legally Binding Contract for the Alliance of the Spirits'

Kufer was in the library, sitting in one of the places designated for reading inside the library. The books he was reading were advanced chemistry and a few on egyptian history. He was quite far into a large chemistry book, trying to memorize the words, dig them into his brain for now and forever. It wasn't to hard but it wasn't easy either.

The other student caught Risiko's eye as he wandered the shelves. There was something off about him, but he couldn't pin it down. Quietly sliding along the shelves until he could see him better. The lack of an eye was surprising, but even those with eyepatches took a break every now and then. Risiko took a glance over the books. He couldn't think of anything the two had in common. Deciding the straightest path was through the mud, he walked up to him.
"Hello" He said, trying to sound pleasant, and put on a small polite smile. "I am very sorry to bother you, but I've just entered the school, and am now having both the qualities of being lost and unsure of where to go. Would you happen to know what to do with new students?" His hands rotated and gestured in front of him in an odd fashion, almost like forming mudras.

Days had been a bit more eventful lately, if only for the damage that the castle had suffered. The walls were far past their prime, and the ceiling had been falling to bits. A bit of a health hazard, really. After a bundle of bricks had damaged a table previously used for study, Tony had been taken it upon himself to repair whatever disrepair happened to the academy's precious library.

Right now, he was tending to a hole on the wall on the lower floor. By no means was he any sort of professional architect, in fact, his attempts were no more than simply coiling a few vines over it. It did little in making it sturdier, but it at least... disguised the damage.

Finally, he deemed his handiwork good enough for a break. A break in which he'd only spend more time working around the library, because that's how life was.
He descended from where he was, dusting himself off. It was then that he heard a snippet of a conversation.
'Would you happen to know what to do with new students?'
...His job was easily found, it seemed.

He crept towards him from behind. In every sense of it, he looked like something out of a horror flick - his leaves had long fallen off, and his brown-ish skin had turned a duller, darker shade. Such were the woes of Winter. He stopped behind them, standing up as straight and as tall as he could, which amounted to no more than four petty feet. He was an insect in their presence, honestly.
His pupil-less yellow eyes stared up at the pair.
"Shall I assume that my assistance is r-required here?"

Risiko turned around, smiling.
"Oh, thank you--ahhh!" He shouted, jumping back. His eyes went wide, and arms splayed out and downwards. This was not the best way to be when jumping backwards involved a chair.
*Thud*
"Ugh!" Risiko grunted, his legs on the seat. Scrambling upwards, he looked at Tony closer.
"Oh, ah...sorry.." He said. "I was just very surprised. Ah...Yes. Yes. Help. Help is good." He still looked wary.

Kufer looked up from his book at the person who dared bother him when he was reading. "...Hello.." The word help seemed to interest him and so he smiled an awkward smile, "I think I can help...." He trailed off as he noticed an odd being. He'd never seen something like that before. He set the book down, making sure his spot was marked with a thin piece of wire and sat more to the edge of his seat, as if waiting for the chance to stand. "Again, I express greetings to new people." His smile was still there, towards the creature.

The sudden shout was unexpected - Tony jerked backwards, his jaws parting in a startled gasp of surprise, cringing away from the turmoil. With his vinelike claws grasping at his own face, his eyes peered past his fingers to look at him. Really, he didn't know whether to be concerned or just flat-out offended.

"Well!" he began, still poised as if he were ready to skedaddle. "I sincerely hope my presence isn't too unwelcome. I'd certainly abhor the idea that someone such as myself would disturb you in any manner." He glanced away, as if ready to leave the students be... but duties still called. He could not simply bring himself to abandon them.

He glanced towards the being on the chair, perhaps vaguely recognising, but had never interacted with. "I must correct you on that matter; I for one, am not 'new'." The latter word was coupled with aerial quotation marks. "Refer to me as Mr Sharp, for I am the resident librarian at Lillegard." He squinted snootily at the two students.
"And yourselves...?"

"Oh, no, I am very sorry, I did not mean in any way to be offensive!" Risiko said quickly, hands dancing in front of him. "It is just ah.. where I come from most everyone looks very alike, it is very surprising to see otherwise!"
Risiko cleared his through. "yes! My name is Risiko Bann, I just got here and am otherwise at a loss as of what to do. It is pleasant to meet you Mr. Sharp. If I may venture to say so, this is a most interesting library you have"
'He's a person too, he's a person too, he's a person too' his head went as he tried to remain calm and polite.

Kufer nodded, "Oh yes, I'm sorry.....But you ARE some one I haven't properly met yet, so in that way you ar new." He kept his seat, thinking it'd be more polite not to stand over someone who, in his opinion, was of higher rank. "Nice to meet you Mr. Sharp, I'm Kufer Vien." He nodded at what Risiko said.

At the apology, his eyes slitted suspiciously, before giving a single nod of acceptance. "Very well." As the two students introduced theirselves, he looked to either of them expectantly, his toes tapping the floorboards with a grain of impatience. "I formally extend a welcome to both of you, Sir Risiko Bann and Sir Kufer Vien." He dusted his chest proudly with his vine-like hands. "And I'm inclined to agree with you; this library houses some of the most intriguing books you'll ever encounter in this day and age. I recommend you make good use of it." He'd smile if he could.
"You were fortunate to happen upon this place early."

He spun on his heel to turn away from them, looking towards all the towering shelves and the books. Then he glanced over his shoulder at the two.
"Would you perhaps be interested in a tour of this remarkable place?"
The offer was intended for both Risiko and Kufer, even if the latter was already acquainted with the place. Reminders always helped. "I can show where you'll find all the sorts of different genres, as well as the ever important rules..." He trailed off with a stare. "We wouldn't want Risiko Bann to become Risiko Banned, hmm?"
He eagerly awaited the two to accept. Of course they'd accept - who wouldn't?

"Excellent!" Risiko exclaimed, clasping his hands together. "Although 'sir' is far too formal for me. But the tour, yes, I should be very excited to see a tour. " He smiled at the pun.
A thought crossed his mind. "Should, ah, I retrieve my luggage, or will it be fine during our tour?"

Kufer smiled politely, "You do not need to add 'sir' to my name, Mister Sharp...I do not deserve a title like that." He set the books he had into a neat pile on a nearby tail. "A proper tour would be nice. I would like t know where everything is so I can find what I need faster. It's kind of you to offer something like it." He stood up, brushing off his long coat as if it had dust on it. "I would think your luggage is safe in the library."

Both Risiko and Kufer seemed to refute the idea of a more elegant title, and Tony simply could not comprehend such a measly preference. He addressed it with nothing more than a questioning stare before moving on. Their enthusiasm was to be admired, at the very least.

Finding Kufer's answer to the question sufficient enough, he decided to begin with their little tour, feeling a rush of zeal within him at the thought.
"Well," he began, curling his fingers together, not quite sure which subject to begin upon. "Let's get the obvious out of the way, shall we? This is the library. Here, you can borrow books to read upon, whether for your academic studies or for your pleasure. All free of charge, and without the notable looks of disdain you may encounter from others in a huma-- pardon me, I mean public library." He lingered on that note for a few moments, before gesturing to the others with a twitch of his fingers.
"Come along then!" he lightly called as he started to pace towards the more open area of the library. "The genres await!"

Risiko noted the jab at humans and raised his left eyebrow (still smiling though). He couldn't blame Mr. Sharp, looking as odd as he did. He must have received much ill-treatment. Risiko did, however, follow Mr. Sharp, as his curiosity outweighed his desire to contradict the generalization of his species.

Kufer never really liked it when non-humans would think of humans as lower than them, but ths tme, he could understand. Many pubic librarys had added laminated stickers to the books, to improve lack of theivery. A noble idea but it had flaws. The stickers would usually hide info about the books and if people were really stupid to still try to steal the books, they'd rip the covers in attempt to take the stickers off. It annoyed the viret greatly due to those reasons.

It's why Kufer liked this library, he could read many books humans believe were never there to begin with, or..at least from the books he saw already, there were to be some old ones, probably many times older than the eldest of his kinds' elders. He followed the plant-like man, "What genre are we starting with if I may ask?"

Stopping in the centre of the open area in front of the staircase, he rocked back on his heels slightly as he glanced around. "Fiction novels!" he said to Kufer, without missing a single beat.
With a thoughtful hum, he glanced to the main entrance of the library that lead to the vestibule, gesturing to the nearby shelves with a vine. "Young Adult novels are located just near the entrance, for the convenience of the majority of students."

In a clockwise direction, he moved to point at the adjacent shelves. "And there you have your Children's books... And then your Mystery and Crime novels...." Failing to mention of course, that that exact bookcase blocked the door to the mechanics classroom. Convenience? No, he loathed that class. "And then some Horror.... and Romance... Science Fiction... Humour..." He continued to gesture around the room in turn before reaching the large circular area of the library, where the balcony loomed overhead. In the centre of that area, there were the very couches that the trio had already been at. Tall bookcases surrounded them around the circumference of the walls. "There, you'll find various genres such as various bibliographies, graphic novels, short story and poem collections, and er--" A hacking cough escaped him, interrupting him mid sentence. "Pardon me, I humbly apologise-- you... you might not want to venture there."

Hushing, he paced towards brusquely towards where the stairs began, turning around to face them. Truly, he had rattled off the locations rather quickly. He should invest his time in creating a map for these purposes...
"Any questions?"

Three steps back and one to the left. In Risiko's opinion, a good spot for following someone. As Mr. Sharp was giving his tour and lists, Risiko kept his hands loosely behind his back.
"Ah, one" Risiko said, raising his hand. He still had on his pleasant smile. "I've noticed that the people here aren't really ah.. the usual group one might expect. Where would I find information about different species and what not? Or even about this school?"

Kufer raised a brow at Tony when he started coughing. He would have said something, but it didn't seem like it was something the plant person wanted to talk about. He thougt about questions he had, there were so many. As he thought, he muttered out loud, "If only there was a way to preserve human bodies without shriveling or restriction of movement....." He looked over Risiko, "I doubt there's anything about my race."

Tony glanced to both of them patiently as they spoke up, only once grimacing as Kufer mentioned human bodies. "Please, do keep your revolting... hobbies... to yourself."

For a moment, it seemed as if he weren't going to address the question as he continued towards the stairs. He lightly hopped upon the first step, then the second, before reaching to curl his fingers around the banister. He hoisted himself up, standing carefully atop the railing as he glanced down to the others. "I believe your answers lie within the second floor, fellow students! You'll find books of the non-fiction genre here, and I do believe that it has various books about all sorts of myths and beasts..." His voice lowered as he glanced around. "The reliability of such books, I cannot say."

He continued to crawl up the railing on all fours without looking back, with the expectation that they would follow. "As for the academy itself, ask all you desire to know to our various residents! I'm sure that they will lend a helping hand."

Risiko followed Mr. Sharp up the steps, along on the right side. His mode of climbing the stairs were intriguing. He looked up at the vast, high ceiling of the library.
"So, it has at least two floors. How many total?" Risiko asked Mr. Sharp before he processed what was said to him.
"Wait, 'fellow' students?" he asked inquisitively, raising his left eyebrow and tilting his head down and right impishly.

The viret paused as Tony spoke. He didn't really hear much of anything after 'revolting hobbies'. He kept silently, his pace slowing to almost a crawl. He seemed as if he was only waiting for the plant creature to stop talking. When Tony had finished and even after Risiko spoke he finally, metaphorically, exploded.

Kufer easily caught up to them, his cloak almost flapping behind him as he came to a stop looking up at the smaller creature. His bangs had been blown back a little as well and he had a glare that could possibly chill bones. His mouth somewhat angrily grimaced, showing his sharp teeth, "You think I enjoy what I do?! You think I'm some sort of messed up person that keeps dead bodies in a trunk? You don't know anyhing then! I need the to find a way to get the decomposition of bodies to stop so that my species can survive! Witout a body we'll fade, diminish, no living creature wants to die, it's natural instinct right? It's not like we kill people, we dig up graves of the recently deceased. I know that sounds horrible but we'd rather die than kill and we'd rather steal then die, but we're decent beings. We want to help humans, but if we keep having to wait for another one to die we'll die....We.....will die......"

He seemed to calm down as despair hit him, but he shook it off. Speaking quieter now he continued, "I....have been searching for a way to preserve a dead body....without using mummification, or plastication....or anything like that...Something that won't constrict movement....That way....we wouldn't have to dig up so many graves....steal so many bodies....for survival."

Tony was about to very patiently answer Risiko's innocent enquiries when there was a sudden uproar from the other student. His eyes widened in shock at his drastic movement towards him, and even more with the verbal lashing that followed.

Just... what was Kufer? What was with the dead bodies? There was no denying it - it was horrific. Tony couldn't grasp what the boy was trying to imply. Was he a murderer? A butcher? Or just someone who just collected and preserved dead bodies to somehow live? He didn't know what his occupation was, but one thing was certain - the way he spoke so openly about it was simply maddening. Yet, the desire to know more was overpowered by another instinct.

His voice, which was normally carefully quiet to allow as little disruption as possible, raised to a piercing, scratchy shriek.
"GET OUT OF MY LIBRARY!"
He slid off the railing, facing the student, pointing at him with a trembling hand. "I know not with what business you have with defiling the dead, but I will hear none of it! I will not allow you to lay a single disease-ridden hand on any one of my books, you understand? Pursue your necrophiliac desires elsewhere!" He twisted away, dismissing him with the wave of his hand as he stared up towards Risiko again.

"...Pardon me, but might you repeat what you said?"
The librarian was still trembling and wide-eyed, but his tone had managed to remain quiet and conversational.

Risiko stood against the opposite rail, unmoving and wide eyed, as he watched the scene unfold. As Mr. Sharp re-addressed him, comprehension of what just happened still eluded him.
"What?" he asked, looking at him again. He regained some measure of place "Oh, ah, how many floors are there?"

'Get out?' He eye went wide. "N....N...N...No.....I haven't finished reading all the books you have on the subjects I'm looking up...." He was more mumbling out loud, sort of in a state of shock and panic. "This is the only place to get more info then what the teachers know...." He knew it would most likely be useless to ask another person to get books for him. Mr. Sharp, at some point, must recognize a students/teachers' usual pattern when they come in. He is the librarian and all.

Kufer was weaving his fingers together in a nervous fashion. "I...I can't b...b...be banned from this place...c..can't...." There was a loud-ish popping sound and one of his pinky fingers fell to the ground. He stared at it in complete horror, "A...A....A...A..Ah...." He couldn't say anything of any sense now. He just picked the digit from the ground and whimpered most pitifully. He turned to leave, mainly to get a bandage, something to keep his hands together.

"Three, to be precise. The room above the library leads to the clock tower, where you may not want to venture, unless..." he trailed off pas an incessant noise continued from the student of which he'd already dismissed. He didn't want to leave Risiko hanging for what would be the second time, but this simply demanded his attention yet again. He shut his eyes, raising his hand to the side of his head, before emitting a tiny hiss from the back of his throat. With an apologetic nod to the student, he turned to face this... corpse defiler.

He was prepared to tackle the situation hastily, but as his jaws opened to address him, he suddenly stopped. He was looking at the fallen finger.
And suddenly, everything was linking together in a flash. This man, not only did he deal with the dead, oh no. He was dead. He'd been dead this entire time.

A shudder shook his limbs as he stared. Took one step back. Then a hissing shriek escaped his jaws as he retreated backwards, all sense of authority abandoning him.
No no no, it was all so wrong, so horribly wrong! The very walking dead, haunting his library and contaminating his books.
Scrambling backwards, he took refuge behind Risiko's legs, staring icily at the zombie. He quite obviously needed a few more moments to regain composure.